So, me and future-art-superstar John Bivens have a comic in this month’s Zuda competition, called THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS (http://zudacomics.com/node/1550). Short version of the plot:

“An agoraphobic detective and the crack team of assistants who do his legwork are hired by a real estate reality show to investigate a house whose spectral curse kills all who enter it.”

Because to certain kind of person (re: me), a detective who never leaves the house is the <em>obvious </em>guy to drive a pretty blatant ribbing of THE GRUDGE.

Basically, what we’re doing is taking the “grumpy-genius-and-attractive-young-subplot-generators” genre (think HOUSE, SHARK, that LIE TO ME show that our host is so fond of) and throwing it headlong into a blender of berserk J-horror (think fart-zombie comedy GYO, not-actually-funny-but-<em>massively</em>-insane DEVILMAN).

It’s a comedy. Kind of. In a mean and bent sort of way.

(Our preview features a ghost coming out of a TV, and a plumber proceeding to just wail on it repeatedly with a wrench. Because I know when *I* watch THE RING, I just think “She’s halfway in a TV, just fucking crack her one before she comes out.”)

(Important SFX note: if you’re hitting someone in the head, with a wrench, in a comic, remember that KRAK is horror, WUNK is comedy.)

Anyway, I’d appreciate your vote (and Favorite and 5-star-rating. And comments, which might not actually count towards our ratings, but fuck it, I just like you as a person and want to hear from you).

It seems obvious, but I’d actually really like to do this as a series. Because John’s basically an art genius and I’d like to see him reach a wide audience, because I'd like to write something that isn't junky-punky Yankee shonen comics, and because the ending I've planned to the first season/overarch/whatever is one of my all time favorite ideas. Made me laugh for just minutes and minutes, let me tell you.

Oh! And we’re also running a little side contest:

Get your friends to vote, and leave a comment saying it was you who got their vote on the site.

Whoever gets the most votes for us gets to be drawn into the strip as a victim of the ghost, and wins an autographed copy of Eisner/Harvey-winning anthology COMIC BOOK TATTOO, signed by both me and John (who were both in it. Not on the same story, mind.)

Second place is “just” getting drawn into the strip as a murder victim.

So, basically, be our internet street team and we’ll murder you.

Um. In the comic.

Which is much more likely to make your friends jealous, frankly.

"American comics are powerful and cool. European comics seem very intellectual. And Japanese comics are very light-hearted. If you could combine the best of all three, you could create some really tremendous work. That's my goal."
- Taiyo Matsumoto

Not to be flippant, but slipping the judges $50 is bribery. Drumming up and rewarding reader support is marketing.

I'll grant that the line can be a hazy one, but I don't think we're on the wrong side of it.

"American comics are powerful and cool. European comics seem very intellectual. And Japanese comics are very light-hearted. If you could combine the best of all three, you could create some really tremendous work. That's my goal."
- Taiyo Matsumoto